Michaela A's Blog

Family Vendetta

To cross one was to risk death at the hands of another;

such is the loyalty of a devoted brother.

It is a staunch alliance formed with infinite trust.

Loyalty.

Now our famed Capulets are in a feud

with the warring Montagues.

Why? We are not certain.

But during this fierce rivalry,

came the most unfortunate irony.

But as a result of their tragic love,

came an ending we can be proud of.

This feud will come to a close,

with the end of some loyalties and some foes,

Before the fall of this curtain.

Throughout this play loyalty is an important theme. In the prologue of Romeo and Juliet it states “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny… where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” (3, 4) This lets us know from the beginning that the two main families have been fighting for a long time in an age-old conflict and that this feud has split the community. This loyalty is a main idea in this story because it influences many of the characters choices. 

The first genre piece that I chose was a poem, specifically about loyalty and its connection to this play. Shakespeare uses loyalties as obstacles that Romeo and Juliet must overcome which adds to plot more than we sometimes realize. I also chose to express one of the character’s loyalties through a letter. It is the letter from Tybalt to Romeo challenging Romeo to a duel. This ends up altering the entire course of the play. This letter shows the hostility between the two families because this really isn’t that big of a deal. Although this play takes place only over a couple of days, we can assume that the Capulets and the Montagues are constantly monitoring and waiting for the other to make a mistake. 

As a response question in the beginning of this unit, Ms. Johnson asked us to write how reading a story as a play is different than reading it in another form. I personally have not read many stories that have been written like this. I enjoyed reading this play because it gave me a sense of what the other characters were thinking. Unlike some other students in my class, I didn’t mind Shakespeare’s word choices. I thought that it gave this story a unique style and made simple statements sound so elegant and classy. For instance, in Act II Scene I when Juliet says, “What man art thou that thus bescreen’d in night so stumblest on my counsel?”. This is really a polite way of asking, “Who is creeping around at night and listening to my private thoughts?” It was little language quirks that really helped me enjoy this rather tragic story.

During this play I noticed a lot of rash decisions on Romeo and Juliet’s part, but the part that stuck with me the most was when Mercutio stepped in for Romeo in the duel with Tybalt. It was after this scene that I really noticed the time gap based on a character’s actions rather than their words. For some reason, I can’t imagine most people repeating what Mercutio did which truly demonstrated the amount of loyalty that the family members of this time possessed.

Michaela A English 10 Duel, Feud, Loyalty, Romeo & Juliet

Isn’t it funny how every day, the school day goes so slow, but when you look back it seemed to go so fast? Recently I looked back at all of the pieces that I have written since the beginning of the year and I noticed a couple of things. The first thing that I noticed was how many pieces I have written this entire year. It really didn’t seem like that much when you are writing them, but when I counted there were more than 30 blog posts and 3 pages of my writing! I almost can’t believe that I wrote that much. While looking closer at my blogs posts, the second thing that I noticed was how different my writing has changed.

William Zinsser once said that, “Writing is thinking on paper.” I think that more recently I have been able to express my thoughts a lot better in my writing which I hope is a sure sign that I am becoming a better writer. Also, in contrast to the beginning of the year, I have also given more thought to my self-reflections. Before this year when I would hear the word “reflection” I would think of something like when you reflect on the lunch you ate right before running the mile in gym class. Not proofing your work is like pigging-out before running, but reflecting upon the mistakes that you have made throughout the year can help you become a better writer and it can also help you grow as a person. I think that this is an important aspect in writing as well as in life because then we are able to make changes based on our mistakes.

Reflecting on things such as our About Me pages would have been an excellent idea if you wanted to concentrate on your future. We wrote those pages in the beginning of the year with barely a taste of what high school was going to be like. The school year has gone so fast and most of us have probably changed our minds on some things.  When I wrote my About Me page, I didn’t know what I wanted my career to be and  I still don’t.  During the school year though I took the time to check out other people’s page and reflected on some of their ideas. I think that reflecting on other people’s work is also important becasue it gives you new ideas to build upon.

This year in CyberEnglish has been a completely new and interesting experience. I’ve said this before but I think that CyberEnglish is definitely a unique class. You learn how to blog, integrate text, use hyperlinks, how to meditate on your work, and in our most recent project you learn a greater respect of history. I don’t think that there is any other class that could have taught my all of this in such a short period of time. In the words of St. Ambrose, “There is no time in life when you are past learning something.” Everything that we have learned this year, like time managment, has helped all of us become better students so we will hopefully never stop learning.

Michaela A CyberJournal

Most of the time when our parents look at our report cards generally: B’s are good, A’s are great, and C’s need some work. Since before our grandparents were in school, report cards have been a way for parents to monitor how their children have been doing in school. Personally, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with this form of grading system, but report cards don’t show everything. Our grades, other than participation grades, are direct reflection on how we do on tests and class work. In Cyber English we also learn a lot of things that are not shown on our report cards. Our report cards don’t show how good we are at maneuvering around our blogs and the Internet, but these skills help us in other subjects. One example of this is when a report is due we can use what we have learned in Cyber English to help us research and type the report. In my opinion I think that our English class this year is just a regular class that we must participate and do the homework in to get a good grade. The skills that we learn that are not represented on our report cards have other benefits.

Michaela A CyberJournal

First off, I think that this living histories project is a really cool idea. I love history and I think old people are awesome becasue they have been through so much and have a lot of fun stories to tell. Using Wiki for this group project is beneficial in so many ways. This past week I missed all or part of English class three times for track meets or band. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for me and Adina to work on our project during school. With this Wiki page we can work on our project when we have time, which lately for has been around 10 o’clock at night. This year I have been taking advantage of writing blog posts at home because it is just way more convenient for me and I really appreciate being able to send my homework assignments to my login at school through GroupWise. Using Wiki is just like that. As long as I have a computer I can work on part of the project. Another great thing is that Adina and I can be working together without having to go to each other’s houses. We can also see the changes we make because it saves all of our previous edits which will be a big help.

Michaela A CyberJournal

When the first body was found it was origionally thought that it was an ancient Egyptian mummy. Once they performed a CT scan Maura was the first one to say, “I think we can now safely say that Madam X is not two thousand years old.”(32) After further investigation they discovered something metalic in her mouth. When they were viewed the object in closer detail it read “I visited the pyramids- Cairo, Egypt” (39) which brought back Egypt as a reoccuring theme. On the back of the object there were three symbols (hieroglyphs) engraved: an owl, a hand, and a bent arm. The archeologists figured out that this stood for the name Medea.

The story of Medea comes from Greek mythology. In the tale Medea and Jason have two sons. After Jason leaves for another woman, Medea gets her revenge by killing the other woman and the two sons. Later she escapes, so from this we know that Medea is both a murderer and a survivor. Now in my book, when this story is brought up, Josephine Pulcillo goes completely pale, which makes you wonder what she knows or what sercrets she hiding. In the next chapter, which is told through the eyes of Josephine, she is thinking that this whole thing was a coincidence. That made me even more temorarily confused. A coincidence with what? I wondered. What could this possible remind her of?

Michaela A Independent Reading, The Keepsake

Personally, I liked most of the characters in this book, aside from the ominous and creepy ones. One of the main characters in this book that I liked was Josephine Pulcullio. All of her life she’s been changing her name and moving so something in her past won’t catch up with her. You don’t actually find out what she is trying so desperately to hide from until the end of the book. Her stituation sort of reminds  me of some new shows on TV, like In Plain Sight, where people conclude that it is safer to change their name move with the help of the US government and the Witness Protection Program. It all seemed kind of unrealistic to me when I would watch those shows, but after reading this book I understand some of their motives.

Since the beginning of high school, almost 7 months ago (can you believe it!), my reading level has definately gone up. I have been reading more complex books like The Good German and The Hunt for Red October. These books have widened my vocabulary a lot compared to last year and I think it’s cool when I can use words that my parents don’t know the meaning to. Another advatage to reading that I have also found out that reading improves your concentration, memory, and creativity.

Michaela A Independent Reading, The Keepsake

I really enjoyed this book because it had so many unexpected twists to the story. It was a really creepy book and I almost stopped reading it, but I just couldn’t stop reading it because I wanted to find out what happened next.

I really liked how this book was written. Throughout the book, the story is told through a few character’s views. I think that this added to the whole feel of the story. It was nice to learn what certain people in the book were thinking. I wish that I were able to do that in real life, be able to know what other people are thinking. Everyone has a unique way of looking at a situation and Tess Gerritsen (the author) did a wonderful job of showing that to the reader. A couple other literary element that the author used in this book were foreshadowing and flashbacks. These really added depth to the characters and suspense to the story line. The first scene from the book was an unnerving flashback that left you hanging until the end of the book. I think that it takes a very talented author to use these techniques properly like this author did. Luisa also told me that Tess Gerritsen has written a lot of other spine-chilling books and her favorite was The Bone Garden.

Michaela A Independent Reading, The Keepsake

I was kind of at a loss of what to read this quarter for my independent reading book. Then Luisa, a girl from Germany, suggested that I read a book by Tess Gerritsen. I Googled the author and found the book The Keepsake. Luisa said that she had already read the book and thought that it was really good. After reading it I definately agree with her. I’m glad she was able to convince me to read it because I probably would never have even considered reading a book like it. The book is really creepy and kind of frightening, but it’s a book that you keep reading just to figure out what happens.

Two of the main themes in this book are archaeology and murder. They are both kind of intwined becasue the “Archaeology Killer” as the killer is called knows a lot about history and post-mortem rituals. The first victim was actually a girl made into a mummy! Yes, a mummy like the ones found in Egypt. (Egypt is another one of the reoccuring themes.) I realized after I finished reading this book that the title was very significant to this story. I find it hard to believe, or maybe I’m just grossed out by the fact that someone would become a murderer and preserve the bodies as a keepsake just like when we save pictures or t-shirts from places we go.

Michaela A Independent Reading, The Keepsake

I really enjoy having Power School, mainly for the convenience of being able to check my grades whenever I want. I really like that I can see how I did on an assignment or test before they are handed back. Seeing my grades regularly lets me know what I need to improve. Because I can see my grades, I can set goals for myself. An example would be that I want to improve my grade before midquarter. I can see how much work I need to meet that goal or how close I am to meeting that goal of improving my grades. The only thing that I don’t like about Power School is that my parents are also able to check my grades any time. Face it, we all have one or two grades every quarter or so that we wish would disappear. When your parents see those grades online before you do- yikes! That has only happened to me like, once, but overall I like Power School.

Michaela A CyberJournal

Overall, I think that this book isn’t the most exciting… or happy story I’ve ever read. Like I’ve said before, all the details and stuff made it kind of confusing to read. I did think that it had an interesting story line to it though. When I think about what happened after World War II ended, I usually think of thousands of American soldiers coming home to their families and parades for all of the veterans. I never really stopped to think about the people still in Europe that were left to clean up the mess.

While in the airplane on the way to Berlin, “Jake looked down at the ground, his stomach suddenly dropping, all of his excitement draining away like blood. Why hadn’t anyone told him? He had seen bombed cities before- but nothing on this scale.” (9) How weird it must have been for Jake to come back to his old home to see it completely destroyed. After reading this book I can only imagine what the Germans that were left behind had to go through. “He realized for the first time, that he might not find her (Lena) at all, that the bombs must have scattered people too, like bricks.” (13) War does such horrible things that we want to just block out of our heads besides soldiers being killed. Innocent people are also killed, families are separated, and many other sad things. “the smell,… like a raw building site, and something else, which assumed was bodies, still lying somewhere under the rubble.” (11) Yeah, this book is definitely not for people with queasy stomachs. It really was kind depressing in the way that it brought up what had happened in the years before but somehow I kept reading it because the true story was who was to blame for Lt. Tully’s death and where Emil was and a couple other interesting  (but not necessary) side stories.

This book was made into a movie in 2006. It has a couple well known actors and actresses like George Clooney and Tobey Maguire, but personally, the story was confusing enough just reading it. It was a good story, but I don’t think that it’s worth seeing the movie.

Michaela A Independent Reading, The Good German